Alright everyone I seem to get a decent amount of questions about how I get such intense rooting with coco so I'm going to try my hand at writing up a short simple tutorial to help out. I hope you enjoy it and learn. Please bare with my writing skill. It is not on the level of some of you fine people.

-----------------------------------------------------Good roots in coco come with sound watering practices period!!!!!!!! I prefer 100% coco. No need to mix anything like perlite into it. I prefer simple hydroponic nutrients that are easy to use. No additives or 15 different bottles to measure. That kind of stuff only invites problems in my experience so far.

Examples of simple easy to use hydroponic nutrients:

General Hydroponics Micro and Bloom(6/9 h3ad recipe)

General Hydroponics Maxibloom(1 part powder)

Hydroponic Research Veg+Bloom(1 part powder and my absolute favorite).

Do's:

Feed often(At least once a day)

Check pH

Use a balanced quality base hydroponic nutrient(no organics this is hydro not soil)

Don'ts:

DO NOT LET YOUR COCO DRY OUT

Do not feed plain water

Do not add a plethora of additives(they are mostly snake oil anyway so save your $)

Never let your coco dry out. Did I say that already? I water at least once a day(except for seedlings at the very beginning). The more I water the better growth and the more roots I get because of the fresh oxygen being pulled into the medium on a regular basis.

Dry coco kills roots, and so does wet coco that has stayed wet for too long without irrigation. This is because it has not been fed again to renew the oxygen levels thus causing the roots to suffocate. You just can't "over water" coco. You can only deprive the roots of oxygen. The longer one waits to water in coco the longer the roots are deprived of oxygen.

In other words. Feed often and you will get thick and healthy roots. This is a very hard concept for previous soil growers to grasp. In soil you need wet dry cycles because soil holds so much water and so little oxygen at max saturation. Coco is an entirely different beast so think of it as such.

I truly believe the KEY is FREQUENT IRRIGATION

If you follow these simple guidelines your roots will look better and your nutrient uptake will improve so stop letting your coco dry out. Keeping your coco wet is also a great way to prevent salt build up and salt concentration which in turn obviously leads to healthy roots as well.

Here are some examples of plants that have gotten 1-2 feeds a day. I use nothing but Veg+Bloom and occasionally +Life(microbial innoculant). That's it nothing else.

So am i reading this right... You water once a day even when you just put the rooted clones into the coco. I put rooted clones in solo cups of coco. Should i water everyday. I always thought at the young stage you let it dry some to make roots reach amd fill towards the bottom.

So am i reading this right... You water once a day even when you just put the rooted clones into the coco. I put rooted clones in solo cups of coco. Should i water everyday. I always thought at the young stage you let it dry some to make roots reach amd fill towards the bottom.

Saying to water once a day is too general. Investing in a moisture meter is the way to go. You always want to stay in the moist part of the meter whether that means feed once a day or every other day or multiple times a day

So am i reading this right... You water once a day even when you just put the rooted clones into the coco. I put rooted clones in solo cups of coco. Should i water everyday. I always thought at the young stage you let it dry some to make roots reach amd fill towards the bottom.

Quote:

Originally Posted by justiceman

I water at least once a day(except for seedlings at the very beginning)

Yup. I do the same thing as you. I feed them once a day right after transplant. The oxygen to water ratio of coco is excellent compared to soil.

At the young stage you let SOIL dry out to make roots explode. This is because drying introduces more oxygen in the medium but that's not necessary with coco as it holds a great amount of oxygen in it. Oxygen is paramount for root growth. That's why DWC and Undercurrent work. Even though the roots are constantly soaked in water those systems have dissolved oxygen that is constantly supplied.

(The reason I quoted my own comment)The only time I do not water everyday is after I put a germinated seed into the coco. I water it once and wait to water again until it breaks the surface unless the coco starts drying out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HqFarms

Saying to water once a day is too general. Investing in a moisture meter is the way to go. You always want to stay in the moist part of the meter whether that means feed once a day or every other day or multiple times a day

The take home is to water no less than once a day so fresh oxygen is introduced regularly. Watering 3x a day would increase the amount. Waiting a few days is too long and allows EC/PPM to potentially spike causing a myriad of issues in coco. Not to say that waiting a few days doesn't work. It does work but guaranteed the roots won't explode as much and potential issues could and usually arise. It's not Ideal. I'd say the above root photographs prove that a steady oxygen supply combined with a steady supply of water and nutrition is the way to go for root growth.

I understand why you do it the way you do. I rather keep my coco at a consistent moisture level. Which means sometimes watering once a day is too much. Pot size, age of said plant, and environment play a huge role and saying watering everyday is too general and might not work for everyone

I understand why you do it the way you do. I rather keep my coco at a consistent moisture level. Which means sometimes watering once a day is too much. Pot size, age of said plant, and environment play a huge role and saying watering everyday is too general and might not work for everyone

Fair enough. At least you agree that keeping the coco hydrated is important. Just to be clear this is not supposed to be a golden rule that everyone must follow. This tutorial is just what I have observed through experience and decided to share with evidence provided.

That being said I'm interested to hear why you think watering once a day can be too much in coco? Never had a problem even with seedlings.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bobazeba

I'm using a pump with a hydro ring for watering my soil grows. I will be converting to coco using the same setup. My question is what are you using for a timer ?

I currently hand water. It all depends on the amount of plants, length of your feed lines, and how far away the reservoir is.

[quote=justiceman;7829006]Yup. I do the same thing as you. I feed them once a day right after transplant. The oxygen to water ratio of coco is excellent compared to soil.

At the young stage you let SOIL dry out to make roots explode. This is because drying introduces more oxygen in the medium but that's not necessary with coco as it holds a great amount of oxygen in it. Oxygen is paramount for root growth. That's why DWC and Undercurrent work. Even though the roots are constantly soaked in water those systems have dissolved oxygen that is constantly supplied.

(The reason I quoted my own comment)The only time I do not water everyday is after I put a germinated seed into the coco. I water it once and wait to water again until it breaks the surface unless the coco starts drying out.

Ok yea i was getting it right. Well im gonna have to change up a little. I knew i was basically treating it as soil in the begining. I was just under the impression if i watered everyday in the beginning it would rot the roots. But i see what you mean about watering and it adding fresh oxygen. That makes it easier to understand thank you. By the way i was checking out your other thread those are some great root pictures man.

Ok yea i was getting it right. Well im gonna have to change up a little. I knew i was basically treating it as soil in the begining. I was just under the impression if i watered everyday in the beginning it would rot the roots. But i see what you mean about watering and it adding fresh oxygen. That makes it easier to understand thank you. By the way i was checking out your other thread those are some great root pictures man.

It's pretty hard to get root rot in coco but it's possible under certain conditions. In order to get root rot you have to let the plant sit in stagnant wet coco for a few days maybe a bit longer. See where I'm getting at? If you water frequently the coco never becomes stagnant and oxygen keeps on getting pulled into the medium every time.

Thank you. I believe that looking at our roots tells us many things. They need more attention.

I'm in pro pots 3gal "fabric pots" love the root pruning and always have them well above the saucer so there never sitting in the runoff. I too use an air stone in my res and water enough everyday to keep on the low side of moist in soil. I'm in FFOF with 30% perlite so it drains and dries quickly. My timer is set for 60 sec once a day when the lights come on. I too find that the water pulling the O2 down into the roots as well as the water being oxygenated and pro pot is a win. The plants love it and I cant wait to convert to coco.

My hydro store carry's Royal gold basement mix, not sure its as pure as other blends. Not a lot of info on it.